St Andrew's Church is a church in

Lyddington Lyddington is a village in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. The population of the civil parish was 397 at the 2001 census, and had fallen to 366 at the 2011 census. The village's name origin is uncertain. Perhaps, 'farm/s ...

Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...

. It is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The church is situated next to

Lyddington Bede House Lyddington Bede House (or Lyddington Bedehouse) is a historic house in Rutland, England, owned and opened to the public by English Heritage. The existing Grade I listed building is a part of a former palace of the Bishops of Lincoln, later used ...

, the remains of a palace formerly owned by the

bishops of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and ...

. The current church primarily dates to the 14th and 15th centuries. In the western porch there are two carved grave slabs, there is also 15th-century wall paintings, over the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

arch,

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

, and a

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

. In the walls of the chancel, there are eleven

acoustic jar Resonance amphora embedded in the wall of the church of the , Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. An acoustic jar, also known by the Greek name ''echea'' (ηχεία, literally ''echoers''), or ''sounding vases'', are ceramic vessels found set into the wal ...

s set high into the wall. They were added in the hope to improve the acoustics. Also in the chancel is a

communion table Communion table and Lord's table are terms used by many Protestant churches—particularly from Reformed, Baptist and low church Anglican and Methodist bodies—for the table used for preparation of Holy Communion (a sacrament also called the ...

surrounded by communion rails. These were added by

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

s in c1635 when they wanted altars to be moved into the church's body, though

Archbishop Laud William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms; he was arrested by Parliament in 164 ...

wanted it to be moved to the eastern wall. Though a compromise was agreed, making today's arrangement. 15th-century brasses can be found near the steps of the altar.

Gallery

File:Nave, St Andrew's church, Lyddington - geograph.org.uk - 871032.jpg, Church interior File:Wall painting, St Andrew's church, Lyddington - geograph.org.uk - 871041.jpg, Wall painting

References

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